Method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber. According to the method, a call from a second telecommunications device (MFG 2 ) of a second telecommunications subscriber is first signaled to a first telecommunications device (MFG 1 ) of a first telecommunications subscriber. Device information (GI 1 ), which indicates the type of subscriber data that the first telecommunications device is configured to process, is then sent from a first to a second telecommunications device. Subscriber data (TD 2 ) is subsequently transmitted from the second to the first telecommunication device, in accordance with the information from the first device. It is also conceivable that device information (GI 2 ) can be transmitted from the second to the first telecommunications device, in accordance with which subscriber data (TD  1 ) can finally be transmitted from the first to the second telecommunications device. The use of device information that is exchanged between two telecommunications devices and indicates which subscriber data should be transmitted to the respective other telecommunication device thus permits a reduction in the data flow between two telecommunications devices with respect to subscriber data, as only the desired subscriber data is transmitted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for identifying atelecommunications subscriber and a telecommunications device forcarrying out the method.

Communication between individuals using telephony, especially mobiletelephony, is becoming increasingly important. For telecommunicationssubscribers it is important, particularly when establishing a telephoneconnection, to know the identity of the caller before answering thecall. The called telecommunications subscriber can use variousfacilities to display the identity of the caller; for example, in theform of the name and telephone number of the caller. Usually, there is adatabase stored on the telecommunications device of the calledtelecommunications subscriber in which telephone numbers and associatednames are saved. For calls where the telephone number of the caller isusually transmitted, the telecommunications device of the calledsubscriber can determine the name of the caller from the database. Thetelephone number and the name of the caller are displayed.

There is, however, a problem when a caller calls anothertelecommunications subscriber, the recipient, for the first time. Inthis case, the recipient has probably not stored an entry in thedatabase in his/her telecommunications device and so the name of thecaller cannot be displayed.

To overcome this problem, a caller can store specific personalidentification information on his/her communications device and thentransfer this during call signaling to the communication device of aparticular recipient. This type of identification information could, forexample, contain name, company, e-mail address in text form and otherspecific information as audio data or image data.

One disadvantage of this method during call signaling, in which a callersends all his/her available identification information or subscriberdata to the recipient, is that the caller transfers a large volume ofdata to the recipient with every call or call signaling, irrespective ofthe performance of the telecommunications device of the recipient. Notonly is it costly for the caller to transfer large data volumes, it ispossible that the telecommunications device of the recipient is not ableto process all the caller data that has been transferred. If, forexample, the telecommunications device of the recipient either does nothave a display facility or does not have a suitable display facility,the device cannot display any image files transferred by the caller thatwould make transferring any image data to such a recipient inappropriateand superfluous.

Documents WO 99/45687 and “ANONYMOUS: ‘H.245: Control Protocol formultimedia communication’ ITU-T RECOMMENDATION H.245, XX, XX, Mai 1999(1999-05), XP002199601” discuss exchanging the properties orcapabilities of terminals to establish that the signals sent from one tothe other terminal can be correctly received before setting up acommunications link such as voice or video link between the twoterminals.

The present invention seeks to enable subscriber identification of asubscriber in a telecommunications connection with a minimum flow ofdata.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber in accordancewith an embodiment has the following stages. A call from a secondtelecommunications device of a second telecommunications subscriber (thecaller) is first signaled to a first telecommunications device of afirst telecommunications subscriber (the recipient). As such, the firsttelecommunications subscriber is made aware by his/hertelecommunications device that the second telecommunications subscriberintends to set up a telecommunications connection with him/her.Advantageously, the signal is transferred to the firsttelecommunications subscriber via a telecommunications network. If thefirst telecommunications device has received the signaling from thesecond telecommunications device, then device information that indicatesthe type of subscriber data that the first telecommunications device isconfigured to process is sent from the first to the secondtelecommunications device. The term “configured” refers to either thefirst telecommunications device only having a certain range of features(for example, it can play back or send audio files, but does not have adisplay suitable for showing image files) or the firsttelecommunications subscriber having for example, set up his/hertelecommunications device so that only certain subscriber data should bereceived which is indicated to the second telecommunications deviceusing device information. After receiving the first device information,subscriber data is subsequently transmitted from the secondtelecommunications device to the first in accordance with the firstdevice information. This simply refers to subscriber data transmitted tothe first telecommunications device matching the criteria of the firstdevice information and hence represents the subscriber data that thefirst telecommunications subscriber can or wants to receive.

In accordance with the method already described, only certain subscriberdata is transmitted from the second telecommunications device to thefirst depending on the settings or configuration or performancecapability of the first telecommunications device which reduces thevolume of data transferred to the absolutely essential which, in turn,results not only in reduced costs for the caller but also fastertransmission speed. Furthermore, subscriber data with particularcontents are not transmitted to telecommunications devices which are notable to process such subscriber data or parts thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, second device information is sent from thesecond (caller) to the first (recipient) telecommunications deviceduring call signaling in this direction which indicates the type ofsubscriber data that the second telecommunications device is configuredto process. Analogously to the recipient, the caller also may senddevice information to the recipient (the first telecommunicationssubscriber) so that subscriber data with a selected or particularcontent also may be returned to the caller. This has the advantage thatthe caller also knows the identity of the recipient. Unlike usualtelecommunications connections, in which the caller enters a particularnumber (telephone number) into his/her telecommunications device andhopes that he/she has selected the correct recipient, in this embodimentthe caller receives “active” feedback from the recipient that eitherconfirms to the caller the selection of the required recipient orindicates that an error has been made.

In a further embodiment, the subscriber data (whether from the firsttelecommunications device to the second or from the secondtelecommunications device to the first) includes not only a telephonenumber, as is possible in the prior art, but also multimedia content.Multimedia content may include text data (data as numbers, letters andsymbols) and/or audio data (data as music or the voice of atelecommunications subscriber) and/or video data or image data (data asa static image or a sequence of images; for example, in QCIF format(Quarter Common Intermediate Format) or a JPG format (developed by theJoint Photographic Experts Group)). Text data may relate to the title,name, first name, company, function, e-mail address or reason forcalling, whereas the image information may, for example, show the faceof the telecommunications subscriber. Using multimedia content insubscriber data enables comprehensive identification or representationof a telecommunications subscriber. Furthermore, it is advantageous ifthe subscriber data being transferred is not only transferred duringcall signaling, to transmit the identity of the caller to the othertelecommunications subscriber, but also that the information transferredis stored on the receiving telecommunications device in a special formator special structure. If, for example, name, first name, e-mail addressand fax number are transmitted by a caller, this information can bestored in designated memory areas of the receiving telecommunicationsdevice such that, for example, to set up an intended e-mail connection,only the name or first name of the e-mail recipient has to be selectedvia a user interface and the e-mail address is automatically insertedinto the planned e-mail. As such, subscriber data can be stored as atype of electronic business card, the contents of which can be processedseparately.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the first and/or secondtelecommunications device stores transmission information that indicateswhich subscriber data has already been transmitted by the othertelecommunications device. It is possible that the transmissioninformation is transmitted as a form of “delivery confirmation” from onetelecommunications device to the other together with the subscriberdata. It also is, however, possible that the telecommunications devicereceiving the subscriber data indicates which parts of the subscriberdata have already been received. This indication or storage oftransmission information is, for example, advantageous if a particularcaller repeatedly calls the same recipient. It is assumed that, forexample, when the caller called the recipient for the first time thatall the subscriber data was transferred that could be transferred inaccordance with the device information from the recipient (firsttelecommunications subscriber or first telecommunications device). Ifthe same caller calls the recipient for a second time, then thetelecommunications device of the recipient can, for example, detect fromthe telephone number transmitted during call signaling that the callerhas called before and transferred his/her subscriber data so that therecipient's device information can be adapted and simply indicate “new”parts of the subscriber data that have not yet been transferred from theparticular caller. For example, if during the first call or the firstcall signaling from the particular caller, name, first name company andan image of the caller have been transferred, then those components canbe excluded from the recipient's device information to be sent to thecaller and, for example, only the e-mail address included (which has notyet been transferred). It is therefore possible by checking the storedtransmission information for a particular caller (secondtelecommunications subscriber or second telecommunications device) todraw conclusions about previously stored subscriber data and hence adaptthe transmitted device information. This reduces the volume of data tobe transmitted between two telecommunications devices (subscriber data).

In a further embodiment, historical data that indicates the transmittedsubscriber data can be assigned to the transmission information. Thishistorical data can, for example, include time or version details.Furthermore, “current” historical data can be assigned to subscriberdata saved in a telecommunications device. By using this historicaldata, the data flow for subscriber identification can be furtherreduced. If, for example, after call signaling from the secondtelecommunications device to the first telecommunications device, thelatest received transmission information with the historical data istransmitted by the first telecommunications device to the secondtelecommunications device along with the first device information, thenthe second telecommunications device can compare the received historicaldata of the first telecommunications device with the current historicaldata of the subscriber data in the second telecommunications device, inorder to decide whether it is necessary still to transmit subscriberdata to the first telecommunications device. If the current historicaldata is different from the received historical data of the firsttelecommunications device (i.e., the current historical data shows ahigher version number or a later time stamp), then the firsttelecommunications device has not received the latest version of thesubscriber data so that the stage of transmitting subscriber data fromthe second to the first telecommunications device should be implemented.Each component or element of the subscriber data (name, first name,company etc.) can be assigned its own historical data or the entirerecord can be assigned standard historical data. Accordingly, it ispossible that the transmission information for each subscriber dataelement has its own individual historical data or that there is uniformhistorical data for all subscriber data elements.

It is worth noting that the use of historical data is not just confinedto transmitting subscriber data from the second telecommunicationsdevice to the first telecommunications device, but should also beconsidered when transmitting subscriber data from the firsttelecommunications device to the second telecommunications device. Assuch, the second telecommunications device together with its deviceinformation can also transmit transmission information with historicaldata to the first telecommunications device, so that the firsttelecommunications device can also detect which version of itssubscriber data is stored on the second telecommunications device.

In another embodiment, it is therefore possible to transmit historicaldata stored in the transmission information in the device information sothat the complexity of the method is reduced since during call signalingonly the device information and not additional transmission informationis transmitted to the other telecommunications device.

In a further embodiment, a telecommunications device is created toimplement the method described above. The telecommunications deviceincludes a first memory to store subscriber data. Furthermore, itincludes a facility to receive first device information of a secondtelecommunications device that indicates the type of subscriber datathat the first telecommunications device is configured to process.Furthermore, a facility is envisaged for transmitting particularsubscriber data from the first memory to the second telecommunicationsdevice depending on the device information received from thistelecommunications device. Subscriber data is advantageously transmittedvia a telecommunications network.

In another embodiment of the telecommunications device, thetelecommunications device has, in particular for carrying out a methodas described above, a second memory for saving second device informationspecific to the telecommunications device that indicates the type ofsubscriber data that the telecommunications device is configured toprocess. Furthermore, the telecommunications device has a facility totransfer the second device information from the second memory to theother telecommunications device. The second device information isadvantageously transmitted via a telecommunications network. Thetelecommunications device also has a facility for receiving subscriberdata from the other telecommunications device depending on the seconddevice information transmitted to it.

In a further embodiment, the subscriber data contained in the firstmemory has multimedia content such as text data and/or audio data and/orvideo data. The subscriber data, in particular the text data includesfor example the title, name, first name, company, function and e-mailaddress of the subscriber; it may also contain a voice message or animage of the subscriber.

In yet another embodiment, the telecommunications device has a furtherthird memory to store transmission information that indicates whichsubscriber data has already been transmitted by anothertelecommunications device. In the third memory, the subscriber datatransmitted from another telecommunications device can be saved togetherwith the appropriate transmission information.

The telecommunications device may be embodied as a computer with datatransmission functions or as a mobile phone. Such a mobile phone and atelecommunications network for transmitting data can, for example, workin accordance with the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service)standard or the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) standard.It is conceivable that the telecommunications device is embodied as acordless telephone that works, for example, in accordance with the DECT(Digital European Cordless Telephone) standard. Depending on whichtelecommunications device, whether mobile phone or cordless telephoneetc, is to be used to set up the telephone connection, the appropriatedata or information must be transmitted via an appropriate network suchas a mobile radio network or a public telephone network.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention aredescribed in, and will be apparent from, the following DetailedDescription of the Invention and the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a telecommunications system forexecuting the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic and detailed diagram of a telecommunicationsdevice via which the method according to the present invention can becarried out.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing subscriber identification during callsignaling.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a telecommunication system or atelecommunication arrangement which has a first telecommunicationsdevice MFG1 and a second telecommunications device MFG2 which are linkedvia an air interface (shown by the symbol “Z”) with a telecommunicationsnetwork NW. The network NW, represented here by a GSM (Global System forMobile Communication) switching unit, is also connected to a processingunit of a network operator or a service provider NB. In the case shownin FIG. 1, the telecommunications devices MFG1 and MFG2 are shown asmobile phones that work in accordance with the GSM standard, although itis also conceivable that the mobile telephones and the network NW workin accordance with the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service)standard. It is further conceivable that the present invention could becarried out using not only mobile phones (MFG1, MFG2) but also othertelecommunications devices such as a cordless telephone, a conventionalcorded telephone, a fax machine or a computer with a function forconnecting to the internet. In particular, when using the alternativetelecommunications devices just described, it is also conceivable thatthese devices do not or do not only remain in contact or make contactwith one another via a GSM network but also via a public telephonenetwork (PSTN: Public Switch Telephone Network).

A subscriber or user of a telecommunications device communicates withother subscribers or a network operator (NB) by setting up a call totransfer voice or data or by sending an SMS (Short Message Service)message. GSM telephone networks can transfer data as CLID (Calling LineIdentification) information and/or as USSD (Unstructured SupplementaryService Data) information.

As such, user-defined data can be transferred via a GSM network from onesubscriber to another.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed schematic diagram of a mobile phone MFG that canbe used as the mobile phone MFG1 and/or MFG2 in FIG. 1. The mobile phoneMFG has a control unit ST that has, in particular, a microprocessor anda program memory. The present invention can be effected throughprocessing carried out by program codes stored in the program memory.

As is shown in FIG. 2, the control unit ST is linked to a display DSPthat can, for example, be an LCD (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display) displayand used for displaying letters, numbers, symbols and images.Furthermore, the control unit ST is linked to a keyboard TAS which inthe example shown has 12 keys (the numbers “0-9”, the “#” symbol and the“*” symbol). The control unit is also linked to a memory SP that hasseveral sections in which subscriber-specific data can be stored. Thecontrol unit ST is also linked to a communications module KM that hasseveral components. It has a microphone MIK and loudspeaker LS (asperipheral components) that are used in conventional telephony (inoperating status) where voice signals are transmitted. The loudspeakerLS and microphone MIK are linked to a processing unit (in thecommunications module KM) for processing or converting analog and/ordigital signals. In this case, such a processing unit is then linked toa GSM radio module (also in the communications module KM) that transmitsvoice and/or data using an antenna ANT via an air interface to a basestation of a communication network or receives the same from this.

It is worth noting that the control unit ST, the memory SP and thecommunication module (without its peripheral components, namely MIK, LSand ANT) are indicated by dashed lines since they are usually inside themobile phone MFG and not seen by the user.

A method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber in accordancewith the present invention as shown in FIG. 3 in conjunction with FIGS.1 and 2 is described below.

Firstly, subscriber data which may include the title, name, first name,company, function (in the company), e-mail address, optional text,reason for calling and an image of the caller associated with thecalling mobile phone MFG is stored in a first memory section of thememory SP of the mobile phone MFG2. In a second memory section of thememory SP, specific device information for the second mobile phone MFG2is also stored that indicates which subscriber data should betransmitted during call signaling from a further telecommunicationsdevice or mobile phone; i.e., for which subscriber data the secondmobile phone is equipped or set to process. In a third memory section ofthe memory SP, transmission information (where it is available) forsubscriber data of a particular further telecommunications subscriber ortelecommunications device is stored that was already transmitted when aprevious telecommunications connection was set up from the furthertelecommunications device. It is worth noting that the subscriber datastored in the memory SP, the device information, any transmissioninformation and the release information described below could be enteredor changed using the keyboard TAS as part of a data managementapplication shown on the display.

To improve the method of identifying subscribers, current historicaldata is assigned to the subscriber data stored in the first memorysection of memory SP for identifying this subscriber data which may alsobe stored in the first memory section of memory SP. To be precise, inthe present example, subscriber data stored in the first memory sectionis assigned a version number (as current historical data). Accordingly,the device information stored in the second memory section of the memorySP is assigned a version number that, for example, can be derived fromtransmission information further transmitted by a particular furtherrecipient. If there is no version number for a particular furthersubscriber, the device information does not receive an entry.

Analogous to the first mobile phone MFG1 where subscriber data of afirst subscriber is stored in the first section of a memory of the firstmobile phone MFG1, first device information is stored in a second memorysection of the memory SP and any available transmission information ofat least one further subscriber is stored in the third memory section ofa memory SP. It is worth noting that in the third memory section ofmemory SP of a mobile phone MFG (MFG1, MFG2) the transmissioninformation of one or more further telecommunications subscribers can bestored with whom a communication link or call signaling for setting up acommunication link has already been made. It is worth noting also thatin the third memory section of memory SP (of MFG1 and/or MFG2),subscriber data transferred from the other telecommunications device canalso be stored in addition to the transmission information. The thirdmemory section of memory SP can contain a database which itself containssubscriber data assigned to a certain other subscriber and anytransmission information transmitted for this subscriber.

The case is described below in which a second telecommunicationssubscriber, hereinafter to referred to as Caller A, wants to set up acommunication link, in particular a telephone connection fortransmitting voice with a first subscriber hereinafter referred to asRecipient E using his/her mobile phone MFG2 via a telecommunicationsnetwork such as the GSM network in FIG. 1. Caller A firstly selectsRecipient E as a communications partner. To select the communicationpartner, a list of communication partners can be shown on the displayDSP of the mobile phone MFG2 whose telephone number and any subscriberdata or transmission information is already stored. After selecting theappropriate communication partner, in this case Recipient E, the deviceinformation GI2 to be sent to the Recipient E is adapted. Whereavailable, the historical data in the form of a version number (hereversion number “1”) of subscriber data for Recipient E that has alreadybeen transferred is taken from the associated transmission informationand incorporated into the device information GI2. As can be seen in FIG.3, the device information GI2 contains a version number of the partner,that is the previously transmitted subscriber data for the partner(Recipient E) and a list of optional information which Caller A orhis/her telecommunications device can or wants to receive. As such,where Recipient E is able or wants to send the appropriate subscriberdata, he/she should transmit all optional subscriber data (reason forcalling, title, name, first name, company, function, e-mail address,optional text, image) that is identified by a “1” before the appropriatespecific data (“1” means send; “0” means do not send) in accordance withthe device information GI2.

After adapting the device information GI2, Caller A or his/her mobilephone MFG2 begins setting up a communication link to Recipient E. Itsends an appropriate call signaling query to the telecommunicationsnetwork that, in turn, transfers the call signaling to the mobile phoneMFG1 (Step 0). A telephone number of Caller A can be forwarded to theRecipient E or the mobile phone with the call signaling. Further, in aStep I during call signaling a message CONNECT PROP REQUEST( ) can besent with the device information GI2 to the telecommunications networkthat forwards the device information GI2 with a message CONNECT PROPINDICATION( ) to the mobile phone MFG1 of the Recipient E.

Once Recipient E is known to Caller A, then in the mobile phone MFG1appropriate device information GI1 can be adapted to Caller A, in whichfrom any existing transmission information of Caller A the versionnumber can be taken from previously transmitted subscriber data andincorporated into the device information GI1. In this case, the versionnumber of the stored transmission information or subscriber data of thepartner (of Caller A) has the value “0”. In contrast to the deviceinformation GI2, Recipient E has set his/her device information GI1 suchthat he/she does not want to receive the company, function, e-mailaddress and optional text from Caller A that is shown by a “0” beforethe appropriate option.

Then, a mobile phone MFG1 of Recipient E transmits in a Step II the setor adapted device information GI1 with a message CONNECT PROP CONFIRM( )to the telecommunications network NW that, in turn, forwards the deviceinformation GI1 with a message CONNECT PROP CONFIRM( ) to Caller A.

Once the mobile phone MFG2 has received the device information GI1, itcan then prepare the subscriber data for transmission that Recipient Ewishes to receive. It is assumed that the subscriber data stored in themobile phone MFG2 has a current version number “1” and is therefore moreup-to-date than the subscriber data stored in the mobile phone MFG1 fromRecipient E with version number “0”. Then, in a Step III the requiredsubscriber data TD2 including appropriate transmission information UI2with a message CONNECTREQUEST( ) is transmitted to a telecommunicationsnetwork NW that, in turn, forwards the subscriber data including thetransmission information with a message CONNECTINDICATION( ) toRecipient E or his/her mobile phone MFG1. As can be seen, the subscriberdata TD2 only contains the components reason for calling, title, nameand image of Caller A. With the transmission information UI2, Caller Aalso transmits a current version number (own version 1) of the recentlytransmitted subscriber data TD2. The transmitted subscriber data TD2including the transmission information UI2 can then be stored in a thirdmemory section of the memory SP of the mobile phone MFG1.

In a Step IV, finally, the subscriber data TD1 including the appropriatetransmission information UI1 is sent from the Recipient E with messageCONNECTCONFIRM( ) to the telecommunications network NW that, in turn, ina further message CONNECT CONFIRM( ) forwards the subscriber data TD1including the transmission information UI1 to the Caller A. It isassumed that the subscriber data stored in the mobile phone MFG1 has acurrent version number “3” and is therefore more up-to-date than thesubscriber data stored in the mobile phone MFG2 from Caller A withversion number “1”. As can be seen in FIG. 3, Recipient E simplytransmits his/her name and first name (“Mustermann”, “Erna”) and not allthe optional components that Caller A was prepared to receive as per thedevice information GI2. The transmission of only particular componentsis based on release information that can be determined for atelecommunications subscriber. This type of information or releaseinformation which indicates which subscriber data a subscriber orhis/her telecommunications device is prepared to transmit to a furthertelecommunications device, can, for example, be stored in a fourthmemory section of the memory SP of a telecommunications device or mobilephone. The release information can be determined individually by asubscriber or user of a telecommunications device. The releaseinformation can then be saved as per the list where a “0” before asubscriber data components refers to this component not beingtransmitted and a “1” refers to the subscriber data component beingtransmitted.

After receiving the subscriber data of the relevant other mobile phone,the subscriber data can then be shown on the display “DSP” of the mobilephone as is shown, for example, in FIG. 1. The display of the mobilephone MFG1 of Recipient E shows the message that the “Caller” is “Dr.Heinz Mustermann” who has a “personal reason for calling” and looks likethe attached image. Correspondingly, on the display of the second mobilephone MFG2 of Caller A simply shows that the “Recipient” is “ErnaMustermann”.

In such a method for subscriber identification in which multimedia datais transmitted during a call or call signaling, there are two distinctstages in the method. In the first stage of the method (corresponding toStep I, II), information (namely device information) is exchangedbetween the relevant telecommunications devices which indicates whichsubscriber data the relevant telecommunications device is prepared toreceive or process from the other telecommunications device. In a secondstage of the method (Steps III, IV), the subscriber data is sent to theother telecommunications device in accordance with the previouslytransmitted device information. As a result of the prior exchange ofdevice information, only the required subscriber data is transmittedwhich, particularly in the case of subscriber data with multimediacontent (audio files or image files), results in a significant reductionin the data flow if certain parts of the subscriber data is excludedfrom the transmission.

As has been explained with reference to the method for subscriberidentification shown in FIG. 3, two different aspects can be implementedto reduce the data flow between the telecommunications devices inconjunction with the use of device information. Firstly, it is possibleto indicate particular requests or which components of the subscriberdata are supported by the telecommunications device which should be sentfrom a further telecommunications device with which a communication linkis to be set up. This is the first possible way of reducing the dataflow. It is worth noting that in Step IV of FIG. 3, a particularsubscriber can reduce the data flow still further by defining releaseinformation which transmits even fewer components of subscriber data toa further telecommunications device than was requested in the deviceinformation.

A further aspect of the reduction of the data flow lies in the use ofhistorical data (version numbers in FIG. 3) which prevents previouslytransmitted subscriber data (with the same version number) beingtransmitted every time a communication link or call signaling is set up.As such, if in a (first) telecommunications device subscriber data witha particular version number is already stored which using deviceinformation on call signaling is to be transmitted to a furthertelecommunications device, and the further telecommunications devicedetects that the current version number of the stored subscriber data isthat same as the transmitted version number, then in this case it is nolonger necessary to transmit the subscriber data. In this case, thesubscriber data already stored in the telecommunications device can beshown to the user of the (first) telecommunications device on thedisplay. If the further telecommunications device determines, however,that the subscriber data stored in the first telecommunications devicehas a lower version number (or that no subscriber data is stored in thefirst telecommunications device because no version number is given inthe device information) and is therefore no longer up-to-date, then thecurrent subscriber data including the new version number is transmitted.This reduces the data flow still further.

It is worth noting that both these aspects, namely negotiating requiredor supported components of subscriber data and using historical data,can be used either in combination with one another as is shown in FIG. 3or independently.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, those of skill in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as set forth in the hereafter appended claims.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A method for identifying a telecommunicationssubscriber, the method comprising: signaling a call from a secondtelecommunications device of a second telecommunications subscriber to afirst telecommunications device of a first telecommunicationssubscriber; sending device information from the first telecommunicationsdevice to the second telecommunications device which indicates a type ofsubscriber data that the first telecommunication device wants toreceive; and transmitting subscriber data from the secondtelecommunications device to the first telecommunications device inaccordance with the device information.
 23. A method for identifying atelecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 22, wherein at leastone of the first and second telecommunications devices storestransmission information which indicates which subscriber data has beentransmitted from the other respective telecommunications device.
 24. Amethod for identifying a telecommunications subscriber as claimed inclaim 23, wherein the transmission information is transmitted from onetelecommunications device to the other telecommunications device withthe subscriber data.
 25. A method for identifying a telecommunicationssubscriber as claimed in claim 23, wherein the transmission informationis assigned historical data which references the transmitted subscriberdata.
 26. A method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber asclaimed in claim 25, wherein the historical data of the transmissioninformation stored in the respective telecommunications device isincorporated into the device information to be transmitted.
 27. A methodfor identifying a telecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 22,wherein the subscriber data to be transmitted is referenced to currenthistorical data.
 28. A method for identifying a telecommunicationssubscriber as claimed in claim 27, further comprising comparing thecurrent historical data from subscriber data to be transmitted withhistorical data from received device information of the respective othertelecommunications device, wherein the step of transmitting includestransmitting only subscriber data whose current historical data does notagree with the historical data of the received device information fromthe respective other telecommunications device.
 29. A method foridentifying a telecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 22,wherein at least one of the first and second telecommunications devicesstores release information which indicates which subscriber data shouldbe transmitted to the respective other telecommunications device.
 30. Amethod for identifying a telecommunications subscriber, the methodcomprising: signaling a call from a second telecommunications device ofa second telecommunications subscriber to a first telecommunicationsdevice of a first telecommunications subscriber; sending deviceinformation from the second telecommunications device to the firsttelecommunications device which indicates components of subscriber datathat the first telecommunications device wants to receive; andtransmitting subscriber data from the first telecommunications device tothe second telecommunications device in accordance with the deviceinformation.
 31. A method for identifying a telecommunicationssubscriber as claimed in claim 30, wherein at least one of the first andsecond telecommunications devices stores transmission information whichindicates which subscriber data has been transmitted from the respectiveother telecommunications device.
 32. A method for identifying atelecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 31, wherein thetransmission information is transmitted from one telecommunicationsdevice to the other telecommunications device with the subscriber data.33. A method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber as claimedin claim 31, wherein the transmission information is assigned historicaldata which references the transmitted subscriber data.
 34. A method foridentifying a telecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 33,wherein the historical data of the transmission information stored in arespective telecommunications device is incorporated into the deviceinformation to be transmitted.
 35. A method for identifying atelecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 30, wherein thesubscriber data to be transmitted in referenced to current historicaldata.
 36. A method for identifying a telecommunications subscriber asclaimed in claim 35, further comprising comparing the current historicaldata from subscriber data to be transmitted with historical data fromreceived device information of the respective other telecommunicationsdevice, wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting onlysubscriber data whose current historical data does not agree with thehistorical data of the received device information from the respectiveother telecommunications device.
 37. A method for identifying atelecommunications subscriber as claimed in claim 30, wherein at leastone of the first and second telecommunications devices stores releaseinformation which indicates which subscriber data should be transmittedto the respective other telecommunications device.
 38. Atelecommunications device for identifying a telecommunicationssubscriber, comprising: a memory for storing subscriber data; a facilityfor receiving device information of a further telecommunications devicewhich indicates components of subscriber data that thetelecommunications device wants to receive; and a facility fortransmitting particular subscriber data from the memory to the furthertelecommunications device depending on the device information received.39. A telecommunications device for identifying a telecommunicationssubscriber as claimed in claim 38, further comprising a further memoryfor storing transmission information which indicates which subscriberdata has already been transmitted by the further telecommunicationsdevice.
 40. A telecommunications device for identifying atelecommunications subscriber, comprising: a memory for storing deviceinformation which indicates a type of subscriber data that a furthertelecommunications device wants to receive; a facility for transferringthe device information from the memory to the further telecommunicationsdevice; and a facility for receiving subscriber data from the furthertelecommunications device depending on the device informationtransmitted.